The Goth Club

February 5, 2010 9:00 pm	to	February 6, 2010 3:00 am
March 5, 2010 12:00 am	to	March 6, 2010 3:00 am
April 2, 2010 9:00 pm	to	April 3, 2010 3:00 am
May 7, 2010 9:00 pm	to	May 8, 2010 3:00 am
June 4, 2010 9:00 pm	to	June 5, 2010 3:00 am

Gulag is Melbourne’s only free goth club, running the first Friday of every month.

It also happens to be the only goth club in the country that actually looks like the sort you see in movies, a point that has been spoken about in a previous Gulag review. (more…)

Having gone to Golgotha last night, it occurs to me that a lot of promoters really… well… can’t.

Promote that is.

I’ve decided that as I endeavour to make GothClub.com.au more of a site that is of actual use to the Australian gothic community, rather than something for the amusement and blitherings of myself & select friends, that I’ll be putting up a list of clubs that are on around the country, special events, etc., and a little bit of detail on everything that I can get. I was also hoping that a few people from interstate might even consider writing reviews for their local haunts and keeping me updated with events that are happening outside of Victoria

To that end, I decided to do some serious research on the national goth scene and found something that really flabbergasted me.

The majority of goth clubs are really poorly promoted. (more…)

Location: Insignia (corner of Flinders & Kings streets)

In short: Gulag = fun & cheap(ish) absinthe

Crowd Type: lazy-goths, ex-punks, Nick Cave look-alikes

Drinks: good prices on premium liquor, nice selection of beer.

Music: Too loud to make out things that weren’t punk.

You’d think from these post titles that I have something against Gulag.

Honestly, I don’t. I actually really like the place… most of the time.

I went again on Friday after getting somewhat screwed over on dinner plans (you people know who you are! Taste my emoticon of embittered darkness… ò_Ó ), and proceeded to have a good time for the majority of the evening.

The venue really is the sort of place that you tend to only see a goth club in as part of a movie. It’s how a goth club should look. And the drink variety is actually pretty decent, especially as there’s usually a good supply of Absinthe and nice whiskies and wines.

Mon’s done herself fantastic favours there with the venue selection.

But I have two issues that burn like my genitals after a weekend of hedonistic indulgence on the goth scene itself (No, I kid… there’s no burning… the stabbing pains of Jaz stabbing me with a sharp object of stabbing tends to outweigh considerations of said indulgence. If only there were an emoticon for embittered sadness).

1) The music.

Unfortunately, it’s not the kind of music I like to dance to. Can’t be helped. Different strokes for different folks, it takes all kinds, united colours of Beneton, if a tree falls on a unique flower in the forest do environmentalists go to a Get-Up meeting with Peter Garrett?, etc.

But can we please do something about DJs having no concept of volume? I like “Baggy Trousers”. I have some, I wear them… But sometimes, I like to talk to people while I wear baggy trousers, rather than listen to a song about my attire while I go hoarse trying to convey some deep insight about why I’m so wonderful and I should run for political posts. The fact that I’m a trained vocalist, and can project at nearly 110dB, and people still have trouble hearing me means that the music is actually at the sort of noise levels that will cause permanent hearing loss. A volume monitor in the DJ booth, please!

I know the setup of the venue means that two insanely large speakers in a small room won’t get the sound out of that room very well without it being intensely loud, but it’s a small venue. The best sound level should not be three feet outside the upstairs door.

2) The People

And this is the part of when a goth club is no longer a goth club. When non-goths come in and the music changes to suit them, which ties in directly to my first point.

I get it. The upstairs bar closes, piss heads don’t want to leave. They hear music downstairs and come to check it out. Sure, that’s fine. If they can handle the people in ‘funny clothes’ and the music, let ‘em stay. There are plenty of ‘non-goths’ that like to hang out at the goth clubs (Zak, I’m looking at you) and that’s fine. I’m not one to say “you’re the wrong type, GTFO!”… But don’t pander to them and encourage them to stay!

Shit, if people wanted a club that pandered to hetero-socio-normative types, whilst looking goth, Goo would still be around.

I’ll admit it. I realised I was somewhat of a goth when I was a small child, when my primary school friends noted that my wardrobe was nearly devoid of colour.

I was chromatically challenged.

The problem was I was also somewhat fashionably challenged. I was on the grunge/metal end of goth… which is to say plain black Tshirts and jeans from K-mart, with some hard wearing boots, and maybe an all purpose leather jacket or coat.

This did not suit certain people in my life, who decided I needed to start going and seeing what “better” clothes I could be wearing… So for the last 3 years, I was getting dragged off to Circa Nocturna to see if there was something I’d like to wear that didn’t come from Tshirt Hell.

There was a lot, but most of it was well out of my price range once regular maintenance (read: weekly dry cleaning) was factored into the cost. Until I saw PurPur Fashion designs at the 2009 show.

However, it wasn’t until June that I got off my lazy arse and actually commissioned Kate to do something for me.

Kate Musina, the adorably Russian lass that is PurPur, has easily been the best thing to happen to my wardrobe in a very long time. While the whole process took just over a month, this did include the fact I had a very limited schedule for fittings, and made some difficult requests in regards to buttons and shoulder pips that needed to be factored in. During the whole process, she was the consummate professional, doing her best to make me feel at ease with the fitting and tailoring process (something I am admittedly not, as I hate having people wait on me. I’d be a terrible Dom).

The attention to detail was stupendous, with all my requests clearly taken into account. Possibly the only draw back is that I prefer my clothes loose and billowing, and Kate likes men to wear tight things… My physique does not agree with her sentiments, but we met halfway I believe.

The outfit, pictured, is pretty much inspired by fascist military uniforms, and was one of the set pieces at Circa Nocturna 09, and something I wanted in particular to have not just as a piece of regular clubbing attire, but also something to wear to Manifest.

The reception there was rather good. People consistently asking which anime/manga I was from, to which I would reply “No no, this is my weekend clothing”, only to be met with blank stares about the idea that someone could either not be in cosplay, or would actually wear something like that out in public.

All in all, a fantastic outfit, and great value for money.